Felipe de Neve: Difference between revisions
m Dating maintenance tags: {{Citation needed}} {{Dead link}} |
Marcocapelle (talk | contribs) removed parent category of Category:Governors of the Californias |
||
(37 intermediate revisions by 20 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Governor of the Californias from 1775 to 1782}} |
|||
{{Use |
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} |
||
{{family name hatnote|Neve|Padilla|lang=Spanish}} |
|||
{{Infobox officeholder |
{{Infobox officeholder |
||
| name |
| name = Felipe de Neve |
||
| image |
| image = Felipe de Neve (Gobernador de las Californias).png |
||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
| |
| office = Governor of the Californias |
||
| monarch = [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] |
|||
| office = Governor of the Californias |
|||
| term_start |
| term_start = 1777 |
||
| term_end |
| term_end = 1782 |
||
| predecessor |
| predecessor = [[Fernando Rivera y Moncada]] |
||
| successor |
| successor = [[Pedro Fages]] |
||
| |
| birthname = Felipe de Neve y Padilla |
||
| |
| birth_date = 1724 |
||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
| death_date = {{death date and age|1784|11|03|1724|df=y}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
| death_date = November 3, 1784 |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
| allegiance = {{flag|Spain|1760}} |
|||
⚫ | |||
| |
| rank = Commandante General |
||
| serviceyears = 1744–1784 |
|||
}} |
}} |
||
'''Felipe de Neve y Padilla''' (1724 |
'''Felipe de Neve y Padilla''' (1724 – 3 November 1784) was a Spanish soldier who served as the 4th [[Governor of the Californias]], from 1775 to 1782.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=TSHA {{!}} Neve, Felipe de|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/neve-felipe-de|access-date=December 8, 2020|website=www.tshaonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=TSHA {{!}} Provincias Internas|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/provincias-internas|access-date=December 8, 2020|website=www.tshaonline.org}}</ref> Neve is one of the founders of [[Los Angeles]] and was instrumental in the foundation of [[San Jose, California|San Jose]] and [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 16, 2015|title=Spanish Governors of California|url=https://missiontour.org/wp/related/spanish-governors-of-california.html|access-date=December 8, 2020|website=MissionTour|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=California AHGP – New California – Chapter III|url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ca/state1/newca/newca3.html|access-date=December 8, 2020|website=usgennet.org|archive-date=May 16, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516103642/http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ca/state1/newca/newca3.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> |
||
==Biography== |
|||
==Early life and career== |
|||
⚫ | |||
=== Early life === |
=== Early life === |
||
Born in [[Bailén |
Born in [[Bailén]], [[History of Spain (1700–1808)|Spain]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=TSHA {{!}} Neve, Felipe de|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/neve-felipe-de|access-date=December 9, 2020|website=www.tshaonline.org}}</ref> Neve was the son of Mary D. Padilla y Costilla and Felipe de Neve Noguera Castro y Figueroa and was born into one of the well-respected families of [[Andalusia|Andalucia]]. Neve entered the military in 1744 at about 16 years of age. Neve served as a soldier in Cantabria, Flanders, [[Milan]], and [[Portugal]] before arriving in New Spain. During his time as a major he administered the colleges of [[Zacatecas]], [[New Spain]]. |
||
Neve was appointed as acting Governor of Las Californias on October 18, 1774<ref>{{Cite web|title=The founder of the city of Los Angeles|url=http://www.turismobailen.es/en/born-in-bailen/127-the-founder-of-the-city-of-los-angeles|access-date=2020 |
Neve was appointed as acting Governor of Las Californias on October 18, 1774<ref>{{Cite web|title=The founder of the city of Los Angeles|url=http://www.turismobailen.es/en/born-in-bailen/127-the-founder-of-the-city-of-los-angeles|access-date=December 9, 2020|website=turismobailen.es}}</ref> by [[Antonio María de Bucareli|Viceroy Antonio Maria de Buareli y Ursua]]. For the first two years of his appointment, Neve was based in [[Loreto, Baja California Sur|Loreto, Baja California]] and later moved to [[Monterey, California|Monterey]].<ref name="missiontour">{{Cite web|title=Spanish Governors|url=http://missiontour.org/related/spanishgov.htm|access-date=April 14, 2010|publisher=missiontour.org|archive-date=October 8, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008074836/http://missiontour.org/related/spanishgov.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="sbtrust">{{Cite web|title=Phelipe de Neve First Governor of the Californias, 1777–1782|url=http://www.sbthp.org/soldados/StBarbara/articulos/NeveBio.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060510172909/http://www.sbthp.org/soldados/StBarbara/articulos/NeveBio.htm|archive-date=May 10, 2006|access-date=April 14, 2010|publisher=sbthp.org}}</ref> |
||
===Las Californias=== |
===Las Californias=== |
||
It was during Neve's administration that |
It was during Neve's administration that Lieutenant [[José Joaquín Moraga]] is credited with building the [[Presidio of San Francisco]], after the site was selected by [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] in 1776. Moraga is also known as the founder of [[History of San Jose, California#Site chosen by De Anza|''El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe'']], the present day city of [[San Jose, California]]. On November 29, 1777, Moraga founded San José on orders from [[Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa]], the Spanish [[Viceroy of New Spain]]. It was the first Spanish colonial pueblo in the northern region of [[The Californias|Las Californias Province]], which became its own [[Alta California]] Province in 1804. The city served as a farming community to support the Presidio of San Francisco and the [[Presidio of Monterey]]. |
||
In 1781, later in Neve's tenure, he founded the ''[[Pueblo de Los Ángeles]]''. Governor Neve had applied to [[Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa|Viceroy Bucareli]] for permission to establish a settlement (''pueblo'') near the [[Los Angeles River]] (''Río de Porciúncula''), where Father [[Juan Crespí]] had met local [[Tongva people|Tongva Indians]]. With the viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from [[The Crown]], [[Charles III of Spain]], to found and establish the second pueblo in upper ''Las Californias'', ''El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula'' (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River), the present day city of |
In 1781, later in Neve's tenure, he founded the ''[[Pueblo de Los Ángeles]]''. Governor Neve had applied to [[Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa|Viceroy Bucareli]] for permission to establish a settlement (''pueblo'') near the [[Los Angeles River]] (''Río de Porciúncula''), where Father [[Juan Crespí]] had met local [[Tongva people|Tongva Indians]]. With the viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from [[The Crown]], [[Charles III of Spain]], to found and establish the second pueblo in upper ''Las Californias'', ''El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula'' (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River), the present day city of Los Angeles, California. Neve is credited with being one of the first urban planners because he personally drew the plans for the pueblo.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 16, 2015|title=Spanish Governors of California|url=https://missiontour.org/wp/related/spanish-governors-of-california.html|access-date=December 9, 2020|website=MissionTour|language=en-US}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} Neve traveled north to inspect the Presidio and mission of San Francisco and the mission of Santa Clara and issued several reports on recent happenings in the Californias and recommendations for establishments, including the recommendation for the site of the city of Los Angeles. "The site had been scheduled for a mission since 1769 when Franciscan Father Juan Crespi first saw it and named it Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de la Porciuncula for the river on which it was located."<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Kelsey|first=Harry|title=A New Look at the Founding of Old Los Angeles|journal=California Historical Quarterly|page=328}}</ref> |
||
In 1781, Neve issued the "Reglamento para el gobierno de la provincia de Californias (Regulations for the Government of the Province of the Californias), the first rules regarding governance of secular pueblos like Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Archaeological Institute of America. Southwest Society|url=http://archive.org/details/outwestland06archrich|title=Out west|last2=Sequoya League. Los Angeles Council|last3=Lummis|first3=Charles Fletcher|last4=James|first4=George Wharton|date= |
In 1781, Neve issued the "Reglamento para el gobierno de la provincia de Californias (Regulations for the Government of the Province of the Californias), the first rules regarding governance of secular pueblos like Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Archaeological Institute of America. Southwest Society|url=http://archive.org/details/outwestland06archrich|title=Out west|last2=Sequoya League. Los Angeles Council|last3=Lummis|first3=Charles Fletcher|last4=James|first4=George Wharton|date=1902–1914|publisher=Los Angeles, Calif. : Land of Sunshine Pub. Co.|others=The Bancroft Library}}</ref> |
||
==== Los Angeles ==== |
==== Los Angeles ==== |
||
[[File:Founding of Los Angeles (Dean Cornwell, Los Angeles Central Library; mural).jpg|thumb|right|''The Founding of Los Angeles'' mural at the [[Los Angeles Central Library]]; [[Dean Cornwell]], 1933.]] |
|||
The location of the site was already inhabited by Native Americans who Father Crespi described as |
The location of the site was already inhabited by Native Americans who Father Crespi described as "very docile and friendly." The town was called Yabit and the attitude of the Natives towards the foreigners did not change over time. Neve arrived to the site in 1779 where he selected three dozen boys and girls for conversion to Christianity and acted as the godfather to twelve of the children. Neve also selected a young married couple, renamed them as Felipe de Neve and Phelipa Theresa de Neve and remarried them.<ref name=":0" /> |
||
Governor de Neve had applied to [[Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa|Viceroy Bucareli]] for permission to establish a settlement (pueblo) near the [[Los Angeles River]] (Río de Porciúncula), where Father [[Juan Crespí]] had met local [[Tongva people|Tongva Indians]]. The area chosen is described below: |
Governor de Neve had applied to [[Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa|Viceroy Bucareli]] for permission to establish a settlement (pueblo) near the [[Los Angeles River]] (Río de Porciúncula), where Father [[Juan Crespí]] had met local [[Tongva people|Tongva Indians]]. The area chosen is described below: |
||
'' |
''"The habitable spots which border the Camino Real from San Diego to Monterey with sufficient pro- portion of waters for developing cultivation are the river Santa Ana at 28 leagues from San Diego, has abundant water and it is not difficult to draw it out as it proves, at seven leagues is the river San Gabriel with much water and lands for large planting, and to raise water not proven very difficult. One league distant from the Mission of this name, which does not use its waters because they obtain abundant and suf- ficient water for lands from the various springs which flow at the foot of the mountains. At 3 leagues from the Mission is the river of Porsincula [sic] with much water easy of access for both banks and beautiful lands in which we can make use of all."''<ref>Mexico, Archivo General. Tomo 121.</ref> |
||
With the Viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from [[The Crown]], [[Charles III of Spain]], to found and establish the second pueblo in upper Las Californias, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River), the present day city of |
With the Viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from [[The Crown]], [[Charles III of Spain]], to found and establish the second pueblo in upper Las Californias, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River), the present day city of Los Angeles, California was founded on September 4, 1781. Of the sixteen families Neve planned on moving to the newly established pueblo, only eleven families made it. Throughout the journey some stayed back or became too ill to travel.<ref name=":0" /> |
||
==== Other Settlements ==== |
==== Other Settlements ==== |
||
During Neve's tenure as governor, he quarreled constantly with the missionaries' leader, padre [[Junípero Serra]], over the secularization of the Missions and the redistribution of land to the [[Mission Indians|Mission Indian neophytes]] and soldiers. During his tenure four [[Spanish missions in California|missions]] were founded: [[Mission San Francisco de Asís]] also called Mission Dolores ( |
During Neve's tenure as governor, he quarreled constantly with the missionaries' leader, padre [[Junípero Serra]], over the secularization of the Missions and the redistribution of land to the [[Mission Indians|Mission Indian neophytes]] and soldiers. During his tenure four [[Spanish missions in California|missions]] were founded: [[Mission San Francisco de Asís]] also called Mission Dolores (June 29, 1776), [[Mission San Juan Capistrano]] (November 1, 1776), [[Mission Santa Clara de Asís]] (January 12, 1777) and [[Mission San Buenaventura]] (March 31, 1782). Neve was given orders to establish a presidio at Santa Barbara and other pueblos with the goal of obtaining land and water for cultivation purposes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dorland|first=C. P.|title=The Los Angeles River – Its History and Ownership|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41169152|journal=Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California|year=1893|volume=3|issue=1|pages=31–35|doi=10.2307/41169152|jstor=41169152}}</ref> He also led a campaign against the [[Quechan|Yumi Indians]] in Arizona and Southern California.<ref name=":1" /> |
||
[[Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse|Jean-François de la Pérouse]], on his expedition around the world in 1786, describes the ill treatment of natives by the ecclesiastical authorities, comparing the mission to a "[[plantation]] at [[Santo Domingo]] or any other [[Caribbean|West Indian]] island," noting the use of "irons and stocks," lashes of the whip, and the recourse to military authority to repossess any native converts who had chosen to return to their "relations in the independent villages." La Pérouse visited Monterrey under the governorship of [[Pedro Fages]], but has the following to say about de Neve: |
[[Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse|Jean-François de la Pérouse]], on his expedition around the world in 1786, describes the ill treatment of natives by the ecclesiastical authorities, comparing the mission to a "[[plantation]] at [[Santo Domingo]] or any other [[Caribbean|West Indian]] island," noting the use of "irons and stocks," lashes of the whip, and the recourse to military authority to repossess any native converts who had chosen to return to their "relations in the independent villages." La Pérouse visited Monterrey under the governorship of [[Pedro Fages]], but has the following to say about de Neve: |
||
{{ |
{{blockquote|text=The predecessor of Mr. Fages, Mr. Felipe de Neve, commander of the interior provinces of Mexico, a man replete with humanity and a Christian philosopher who died about four years ago, remonstrated against the practice [of corporal punishment]. He thought that the progress of the faith would be more rapid and the prayers of the Indians more agreeable to the Supreme Being if they were not constrained. He desired a constitution less monastic, affording more civil liberty to the Indians and less despotism in the executive power of the presidios, the government of which might fall into the hands of cruel and avaricious men. He thought likewise that it might perhaps be necessary to moderate their authority by the appointment of a magistrate who might be the tribune, as it were, of the Indians, and possess sufficient authority to defend them from harassments. This upright man had borne arms in service of his country from his infancy, but he was exempt from the prejudices of his profession, and well knew that military government is subject to great improprieties when not moderated by an intermediate power. He might, however, have experienced the difficulty of maintaining the conflict of three authorities in a county so remote from the governor-general of Mexico, since the missionaries, though pious and respectable, are already at open variance with the governor, who appears to me to be a worth military character.<ref>{{cite book |last1=La Pérouse |first1=Jean-François |editor1-last=Malcolm Margolin |title=Monterey in 1786: Life in a California Mission: The Journals of Jean Françcois de La Pérouse |date=1786 |publisher=Heyday Books |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-930588-39-8 |pages=83–84 |edition=1989}}</ref>}} |
||
== Final years and |
== Final years and honors == |
||
Felipe de Neve recited the Cross of the Order of San Carlos and was made a Brigadier General. Governor de Neve's success as provincial governor won him a promotion in 1783 to succeed [[Teodoro de Croix]] as Commandante General of the Provinicas Internas, a position that had authority over al the northern provinces, including Las Californias. He held the position of Comandante General of the Frontier Provinces until his death on November 3, 1784 in hacienda Nuestra Señora del Carmen de Pena Blanca, [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua, |
Felipe de Neve recited the Cross of the Order of San Carlos and was made a Brigadier General. Governor de Neve's success as provincial governor won him a promotion in 1783 to succeed [[Teodoro de Croix]] as Commandante General of the Provinicas Internas, a position that had authority over al the northern provinces, including Las Californias. He held the position of Comandante General of the Frontier Provinces until his death on November 3, 1784, in hacienda Nuestra Señora del Carmen de Pena Blanca, [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], New Spain. |
||
== Legacy == |
== Legacy == |
||
[[File:Felipe De Neve Library.jpg|thumb|right|Felipe de Neve Library, Los Angeles.]]A {{convert|7.5| foot||adj=mid| cast}} bronze [[statue of Felipe de Neve]] by [[Henry Lion]] was installed in 1932 at the [[El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument#Los Angeles Plaza Park|Los Angeles Plaza Park]] in the El Pueblo District of Los Angeles, California, by the City of Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Early Views of the Los Angeles Plaza |url=https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Plaza_of_LA.html |access-date=December 8, 2020 |publisher=Water and Power Associates}}</ref> The statue is mounted on a {{convert|4|foot||adj=mid| boulder}} and includes a bronze dedication plaque with the following inscription: |
|||
[[File:Felipe De Neve Library.jpg|thumb|right|Felipe de Neve Library, [[Los Angeles]].]] |
|||
⚫ | <small>Felipe de Neve, 1728–84, Spanish governor of the Californias, 1775–82. In 1781 on the orders of King Carlos III of Spain, Felipe de Neve selected a site near the river Porciuncula and laid out the town of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles, one of 2 Spanish pueblos he founded in Alta California</small><ref name="SI">{{cite web |title=Don Felipe de Neve, (sculpture). |url=https://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=ariall&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!930~!0#focus |website=Art Inventories Catalog |publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum}}</ref> |
||
=== Statue === |
|||
A 7½ foot cast broke state of Felipe de Neve by [https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/21198/zz002cvsvw/ Henry Lion] was installed in 1932 at La Plaza Park in the El Pueblo District of Los Angeles, California, by the City of Los Angeles. The statue is mounted on a 4-foot boulder and includes a bronze plaque with the following inscription:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Water and Power Associates|url=https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Plaza_of_LA.html|access-date=2020-12-08|website=waterandpower.org}}</ref> |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | De Neve Drive in the [[Westwood, Los Angeles|Westwood]] neighborhood of Los Angeles is named after him, as are the student housing buildings of De Neve Plaza at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]]. The [[Felipe de Neve Branch Library]] of the [[Los Angeles Public Library]] is located in Lafayette Park in [[Westlake, Los Angeles|Westlake]], Los Angeles is dedicated to him. |
||
===Other=== |
|||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
The [https://www.lapl.org/branches/felipe-de-neve Felipe de Neve Branch Library] of the [[Los Angeles Public Library]] is located in Lafayette Park in [[Westlake, Los Angeles|Westlake]], Los Angeles is dedicated to him. |
|||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
Line 82: | Line 81: | ||
==Bibliography== |
==Bibliography== |
||
* {{cite book|author=Edwin A. Beilharz|title=Felipe de Neve, first Governor of California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5Y8AAAAIAAJ|year=1971|publisher=California Historical Society|location=San Francisco}} |
* {{cite book|author=Edwin A. Beilharz|title=Felipe de Neve, first Governor of California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k5Y8AAAAIAAJ|year=1971|publisher=California Historical Society|location=San Francisco|isbn=9780910312097 }} |
||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
{{Commons category}} |
{{Commons category}} |
||
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070208003711/http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/de_neve.html USC Libraries: Felipe de Neve] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070208003711/http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/de_neve.html USC Libraries: Felipe de Neve] |
||
*[http://www.californiahistory.net/4_PAGES/pueblos_nuestra.htm California History |
* [http://www.californiahistory.net/4_PAGES/pueblos_nuestra.htm California History – Felipe de Neve] |
||
{{Governors of California}} |
{{Governors of California}} |
||
Line 98: | Line 97: | ||
[[Category:Governors of the Californias]] |
[[Category:Governors of the Californias]] |
||
[[Category:American city founders]] |
[[Category:American city founders]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:People from the Province of Jaén (Spain)]] |
||
[[Category:People from Bailén]] |
|||
[[Category:History of Los Angeles]] |
[[Category:History of Los Angeles]] |
||
[[Category:History of San Francisco]] |
[[Category:History of San Francisco]] |
||
[[Category:History of Baja California]] |
[[Category:History of Baja California]] |
||
[[Category:18th-century Spanish |
[[Category:18th-century Spanish military personnel]] |
||
[[Category:1724 births]] |
[[Category:1724 births]] |
||
[[Category:1784 deaths]] |
[[Category:1784 deaths]] |
||
[[Category:Californios]] |
Latest revision as of 22:36, 3 November 2024
Felipe de Neve | |
---|---|
4th Governor of the Californias | |
In office 1777–1782 | |
Monarch | Charles III |
Preceded by | Fernando Rivera y Moncada |
Succeeded by | Pedro Fages |
Personal details | |
Born | Felipe de Neve y Padilla 1724 Bailén, Jaén, Spain[1] |
Died | 3 November 1784 Chihuahua, Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain (now Mexico) | (aged 59–60)
Occupation | Explorer, politician |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Spain |
Years of service | 1744–1784 |
Rank | Commandante General |
Felipe de Neve y Padilla (1724 – 3 November 1784) was a Spanish soldier who served as the 4th Governor of the Californias, from 1775 to 1782.[2][3] Neve is one of the founders of Los Angeles and was instrumental in the foundation of San Jose and Santa Barbara.[4][5]
Biography
[edit]Early life
[edit]Born in Bailén, Spain,[6] Neve was the son of Mary D. Padilla y Costilla and Felipe de Neve Noguera Castro y Figueroa and was born into one of the well-respected families of Andalucia. Neve entered the military in 1744 at about 16 years of age. Neve served as a soldier in Cantabria, Flanders, Milan, and Portugal before arriving in New Spain. During his time as a major he administered the colleges of Zacatecas, New Spain.
Neve was appointed as acting Governor of Las Californias on October 18, 1774[7] by Viceroy Antonio Maria de Buareli y Ursua. For the first two years of his appointment, Neve was based in Loreto, Baja California and later moved to Monterey.[8][9]
Las Californias
[edit]It was during Neve's administration that Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga is credited with building the Presidio of San Francisco, after the site was selected by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776. Moraga is also known as the founder of El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, the present day city of San Jose, California. On November 29, 1777, Moraga founded San José on orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, the Spanish Viceroy of New Spain. It was the first Spanish colonial pueblo in the northern region of Las Californias Province, which became its own Alta California Province in 1804. The city served as a farming community to support the Presidio of San Francisco and the Presidio of Monterey.
In 1781, later in Neve's tenure, he founded the Pueblo de Los Ángeles. Governor Neve had applied to Viceroy Bucareli for permission to establish a settlement (pueblo) near the Los Angeles River (Río de Porciúncula), where Father Juan Crespí had met local Tongva Indians. With the viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from The Crown, Charles III of Spain, to found and establish the second pueblo in upper Las Californias, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River), the present day city of Los Angeles, California. Neve is credited with being one of the first urban planners because he personally drew the plans for the pueblo.[10][citation needed] Neve traveled north to inspect the Presidio and mission of San Francisco and the mission of Santa Clara and issued several reports on recent happenings in the Californias and recommendations for establishments, including the recommendation for the site of the city of Los Angeles. "The site had been scheduled for a mission since 1769 when Franciscan Father Juan Crespi first saw it and named it Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de la Porciuncula for the river on which it was located."[11]
In 1781, Neve issued the "Reglamento para el gobierno de la provincia de Californias (Regulations for the Government of the Province of the Californias), the first rules regarding governance of secular pueblos like Los Angeles.[12]
Los Angeles
[edit]The location of the site was already inhabited by Native Americans who Father Crespi described as "very docile and friendly." The town was called Yabit and the attitude of the Natives towards the foreigners did not change over time. Neve arrived to the site in 1779 where he selected three dozen boys and girls for conversion to Christianity and acted as the godfather to twelve of the children. Neve also selected a young married couple, renamed them as Felipe de Neve and Phelipa Theresa de Neve and remarried them.[11]
Governor de Neve had applied to Viceroy Bucareli for permission to establish a settlement (pueblo) near the Los Angeles River (Río de Porciúncula), where Father Juan Crespí had met local Tongva Indians. The area chosen is described below:
"The habitable spots which border the Camino Real from San Diego to Monterey with sufficient pro- portion of waters for developing cultivation are the river Santa Ana at 28 leagues from San Diego, has abundant water and it is not difficult to draw it out as it proves, at seven leagues is the river San Gabriel with much water and lands for large planting, and to raise water not proven very difficult. One league distant from the Mission of this name, which does not use its waters because they obtain abundant and suf- ficient water for lands from the various springs which flow at the foot of the mountains. At 3 leagues from the Mission is the river of Porsincula [sic] with much water easy of access for both banks and beautiful lands in which we can make use of all."[13]
With the Viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from The Crown, Charles III of Spain, to found and establish the second pueblo in upper Las Californias, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River), the present day city of Los Angeles, California was founded on September 4, 1781. Of the sixteen families Neve planned on moving to the newly established pueblo, only eleven families made it. Throughout the journey some stayed back or became too ill to travel.[11]
Other Settlements
[edit]During Neve's tenure as governor, he quarreled constantly with the missionaries' leader, padre Junípero Serra, over the secularization of the Missions and the redistribution of land to the Mission Indian neophytes and soldiers. During his tenure four missions were founded: Mission San Francisco de Asís also called Mission Dolores (June 29, 1776), Mission San Juan Capistrano (November 1, 1776), Mission Santa Clara de Asís (January 12, 1777) and Mission San Buenaventura (March 31, 1782). Neve was given orders to establish a presidio at Santa Barbara and other pueblos with the goal of obtaining land and water for cultivation purposes.[14] He also led a campaign against the Yumi Indians in Arizona and Southern California.[2]
Jean-François de la Pérouse, on his expedition around the world in 1786, describes the ill treatment of natives by the ecclesiastical authorities, comparing the mission to a "plantation at Santo Domingo or any other West Indian island," noting the use of "irons and stocks," lashes of the whip, and the recourse to military authority to repossess any native converts who had chosen to return to their "relations in the independent villages." La Pérouse visited Monterrey under the governorship of Pedro Fages, but has the following to say about de Neve:
The predecessor of Mr. Fages, Mr. Felipe de Neve, commander of the interior provinces of Mexico, a man replete with humanity and a Christian philosopher who died about four years ago, remonstrated against the practice [of corporal punishment]. He thought that the progress of the faith would be more rapid and the prayers of the Indians more agreeable to the Supreme Being if they were not constrained. He desired a constitution less monastic, affording more civil liberty to the Indians and less despotism in the executive power of the presidios, the government of which might fall into the hands of cruel and avaricious men. He thought likewise that it might perhaps be necessary to moderate their authority by the appointment of a magistrate who might be the tribune, as it were, of the Indians, and possess sufficient authority to defend them from harassments. This upright man had borne arms in service of his country from his infancy, but he was exempt from the prejudices of his profession, and well knew that military government is subject to great improprieties when not moderated by an intermediate power. He might, however, have experienced the difficulty of maintaining the conflict of three authorities in a county so remote from the governor-general of Mexico, since the missionaries, though pious and respectable, are already at open variance with the governor, who appears to me to be a worth military character.[15]
Final years and honors
[edit]Felipe de Neve recited the Cross of the Order of San Carlos and was made a Brigadier General. Governor de Neve's success as provincial governor won him a promotion in 1783 to succeed Teodoro de Croix as Commandante General of the Provinicas Internas, a position that had authority over al the northern provinces, including Las Californias. He held the position of Comandante General of the Frontier Provinces until his death on November 3, 1784, in hacienda Nuestra Señora del Carmen de Pena Blanca, Chihuahua, New Spain.
Legacy
[edit]A 7.5-foot cast (2.3 m) bronze statue of Felipe de Neve by Henry Lion was installed in 1932 at the Los Angeles Plaza Park in the El Pueblo District of Los Angeles, California, by the City of Los Angeles.[16] The statue is mounted on a 4-foot boulder (1.2 m) and includes a bronze dedication plaque with the following inscription:
Felipe de Neve, 1728–84, Spanish governor of the Californias, 1775–82. In 1781 on the orders of King Carlos III of Spain, Felipe de Neve selected a site near the river Porciuncula and laid out the town of El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles, one of 2 Spanish pueblos he founded in Alta California[17]
The pueblo was proclaimed a city on May 23, 1835, by the Mexican Congress.
De Neve Drive in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles is named after him, as are the student housing buildings of De Neve Plaza at the University of California, Los Angeles. The Felipe de Neve Branch Library of the Los Angeles Public Library is located in Lafayette Park in Westlake, Los Angeles is dedicated to him.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Neve, Felipe de (1724–1784)". tshaonline.org. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
- ^ a b "TSHA | Neve, Felipe de". www.tshaonline.org. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
- ^ "TSHA | Provincias Internas". www.tshaonline.org. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
- ^ "Spanish Governors of California". MissionTour. May 16, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
- ^ "California AHGP – New California – Chapter III". usgennet.org. Archived from the original on May 16, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
- ^ "TSHA | Neve, Felipe de". www.tshaonline.org. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- ^ "The founder of the city of Los Angeles". turismobailen.es. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- ^ "Spanish Governors". missiontour.org. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
- ^ "Phelipe de Neve First Governor of the Californias, 1777–1782". sbthp.org. Archived from the original on May 10, 2006. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
- ^ "Spanish Governors of California". MissionTour. May 16, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- ^ a b c Kelsey, Harry. "A New Look at the Founding of Old Los Angeles". California Historical Quarterly: 328.
- ^ Archaeological Institute of America. Southwest Society; Sequoya League. Los Angeles Council; Lummis, Charles Fletcher; James, George Wharton (1902–1914). Out west. The Bancroft Library. Los Angeles, Calif. : Land of Sunshine Pub. Co.
- ^ Mexico, Archivo General. Tomo 121.
- ^ Dorland, C. P. (1893). "The Los Angeles River – Its History and Ownership". Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California. 3 (1): 31–35. doi:10.2307/41169152. JSTOR 41169152.
- ^ La Pérouse, Jean-François (1786). Malcolm Margolin (ed.). Monterey in 1786: Life in a California Mission: The Journals of Jean Françcois de La Pérouse (1989 ed.). Berkeley: Heyday Books. pp. 83–84. ISBN 0-930588-39-8.
- ^ "Early Views of the Los Angeles Plaza". Water and Power Associates. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
- ^ "Don Felipe de Neve, (sculpture)". Art Inventories Catalog. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Sources
[edit]- Clyde Arbuckle (1986). Clyde Arbuckle's History of San Jose. Smith McKay Printing. ISBN 978-9996625220.
- The Town of Our Lady Reina of the Angels on the Porciúncula river. (in English)
Bibliography
[edit]- Edwin A. Beilharz (1971). Felipe de Neve, first Governor of California. San Francisco: California Historical Society. ISBN 9780910312097.